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A Vital Downtown

“Downtown New Haven has been transformed…into a vibrant neighborhood of shops, theaters, and restaurants”- The New York Times

New Haven is a wonderful place to live, work, visit and go to school. New Haven’s retail and restaurants are strong and growing. Over the past decade, Yale has invested in key properties in the Broadway, Chapel and Audubon Districts, which have helped create jobs and increase tax revenues. These properties, which are part of Yale’s Community Investment Program, provide homes to more than 80 independent merchants and five national retailers. Learn more about Yale University Properties here.

Market New Haven, a non-profit organization formed by the City, Yale, and business community, has been working to ensure the public image matches the reality of New Haven. Through advertising, events, and a public relations effort, Market New Haven has been successfully spreading the word about New Haven’s renaissance both regionally and nationally.

The City and Yale University work together on creating a vibrant downtown and Yale has been a lead sponsor of special events such as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and Free Concerts on the Green which bring hundreds of thousands of city and suburban residents downtown. Additionally, hundreds of campus events and venues are open to the public - frequently free of charge. Yale museums, concerts, and plays attract more than 500,000 visitors a year to downtown and help make New Haven the cultural center of the region. Click here to learn about all of the current events happening in New Haven.

With the sounds of New Orleans-style brass bands heralding her arrival, Queen Zuri began her reign on College Street. Truth be told, Queen Zuri isn’t a queen. She’s a 17-year-old future queen, and she was at school. Her mother, Kim Soto, is the actual queen of the newest restaurant to come to downtown New Haven, which had its official grand opening Monday.

Soto, a native New Orleanian — her husband is the Nutmegger — unofficially opened the restaurant’s doors on Nov. 30. The New Haven location is the latest iteration of a restaurant she started in Shelton and then moved to Milford. She originally opened Queen Zuri in 2013, but got such a good receptions that she moved to Milford just last year.

When some folks from Yale Properties came through her doors last August and suggested she consider opening a second location in New Haven, she was intrigued.

What do stilettos have to do with sundaes? Not much, unless you’re at Arethusa, a Connecticut Farm and Dairy from the 1860s that was rescued from golf course developers by Manolo Blahnik executives Tony Yurgaitis and George Malkemus. This spring, the couple opened an outpost of their country-chic creamery on Yale’s Campus; it serves dense, pure-tasting ice cream in straightforward flavors like coffee, chocolate, strawberry. The secret is the milk, which comes from Arethusa’s cows, a pampered herd that eats grass, sleeps on mattresses, and enjoys daily tail shampoos. (Yep, you read that right.)